Glenn Youngkin surge over Terry McAuliffe in Virginia gov race fuels Dem desperation

Glenn Youngkin surge over Terry McAuliffe in Virginia gov race fuels Dem desperation

Democrats tried to stave off panic over the Virginia governor’s race on the final day of early voting — in a blue-state election now suddenly too close to call.

“Democrats are facing a DISASTER,” the Democratic Governors Association warned in a last-minute fundraising email that pointed to recent polls showing the party’s candidate, former Gov. Terry McAuliffe, falling behind GOP newcomer Glenn Youngkin, just days ahead of the Nov. 2 election.

“We can’t let the GOP break the Democratic firewall in Virginia – because what happens there will lay the groundwork for 2022,” the message continued.

The two candidates’ plans of attack were evident on the campaign trail Saturday.

Youngkin, who has harnessed simmering parental anger over school COVID policies and race-based curriculum battles to gain ground among independent voters and disaffected Democrats, drew hundreds of supporters to a rally in Alexandria, one of the state’s bluest cities.

Virginia Republican gubernatorial candidate Glenn Youngkin
Republican gubernatorial candidate Glenn Youngkin keeps gaining voters against former Gov. Terry McAuliffe.
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Republican gubernatorial candidate Glenn Youngkin rallies voters at a campaign event in Manassas, Virginia on October 30, 2021.
Glenn Youngkin rallies voters at a campaign event in Manassas, Va., on Oct. 30, 2021.
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“This is about the values that Virginians hold dear,” the Republican told reporters. “I’ve had more people say, ‘I’ve never voted Republican before and I’m voting for you.’ We’ve got folks streaming across the aisle.”

Meanwhile, McAuliffe tried to shore up his base in Norfolk, where only 40 people turned up for a rally headlined by Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine.

“As of this morning, we have had over a million early votes,” McAuliffe reassured the sparse crowd. “We are substantially leading in the early vote.”

Republican gubernatorial candidate Glenn Youngkin stops by at Manassas, Virginia to thank police officers on October 30, 2021.
Glenn Youngkin on a campaign stop in Manassas, Va., on Saturday.
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Vice President Kamala Harris joined a campaign event with former Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe in Norfolk, Virginia on October 29, 2021.
Vice President Kamala Harris joined a campaign event with Democratic candidate and former Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe in Norfolk on Oct. 29, 2021.
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But with a long history of heavy Republican turnout on Election Day, the stark enthusiasm gap between the two parties is looming large.

President Biden won the Old Dominion in 2020 by a comfortable 10-point margin, thanks largely to the densely populated, strongly Democratic counties that hug the state’s border with Washington, DC.

His victory capped a 16-year streak for Democrats there. Not since 2004 has a Republican presidential candidate taken Virginia.

Democratic gubernatorial candidate, former Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe
Former Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe has previously relied on President Joe Biden speaking on his behalf.
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Democratic gubernatorial candidate, former Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe
Former Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe has been criticized for ignoring parents’ opinions on school curricula.
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McAuliffe, a longtime Dem insider who has been a close confidant of Bill and Hillary Clinton and served as Virginia’s governor from 2014 to 2018, once appeared to be a shoo-in for a second term.

But Biden’s steeply declining approval rating has depressed the Democratic base. A Washington Post poll this week found 42 percent of Virginia voters strongly disapprove of the president’s performance — while just 21 percent strongly approve. Such a lopsided result usually translates into heavy turnout for the opposing party.

And McAuliffe’s own gaffes — notably his September comment, “I don’t think parents should be telling schools what they should teach” — have been seized by the Youngkin campaign as prime examples of the Democrat’s distance from voters’ concerns.

Campaign signs for Democrat Terry McAuliffe and Republican Glenn Youngkin stand together on the last day of early voting in the Virginia gubernatorial election in Fairfax, Virginia.
The race between former Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe and GOP candidate Glenn Youngkin has grown intense.
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Democratic gubernatorial candidate, former Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe
Former Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe insists Democrats have a steady advantage with early voting turnout.
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Republican gubernatorial candidate Glenn Youngkin
Republican gubernatorial candidate Glenn Youngkin claimed the hotly contested Virginia race “isn’t going to be close” to Fox News’ Sean Hannity.
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School board meetings in the Democratic strongholds of Fairfax County and Loudoun County have made national headlines, as parents protested policies they say are indoctrinating their children with the tenets of critical race theory.

Youngkin notched an eight-point advantage over McAuliffe among likely voters in a Fox News survey released Thursday that showed the Republican leading 53-45. Other polls this week indicated the two are neck-and-neck.